Literacy program serves region

Story and photo by Sharon Feder '06

Rebecca Moskin (left), a graduate assistant working in the Elementary Education Literacy Program discusses a book with Peter Edwards, coordinator of the program.

As a participapant in "One Book, One New Paltz," SUNY New Paltz actively promoted literacy on campus and in the community with a series of events that took place Nov. 1-7. For the Elementary Education Literacy Program, however, encouraging literacy is an ongoing effort.

Coordinated by Professor Peter Edwards, with the help of department chair and Professor Winifred Montgomery, Professor Barbara Chorzempa and secretary Cecilia Donato, the literacy program is the largest program of its kind in the region.

New Paltz has upwards of 1,000 class enrollments annually in a variety of courses.

As part of the clinical component of the program, the graduate degree candidates work one-on-one with young students in the program's literacy center. The center, located in the basement of Old Main, serves to assess these students' reading and writing performance.

"We find out their needs and work to remediate them," said Edwards.

Parents and teachers from 25 schools in Ulster, Dutchess and Orange counties have sought out the services of the growing center, which currently serves 35 students and their parents each semester. "It's getting big because it's successful and it works," said Edwards.

The center brings children to campus from as far away as Beacon and Saugerties once a week during the school year and provides a more intensive program in the summer.

As the literacy center expands, Edwards hopes to update its facilities. He recently wrote a grant with Robert Michael, dean of the School of Education, for that purpose. The two hope to transform the space into a "smart center" equipped with technology to help further facilitate learning.

For more information on the literacy program, contact Edwards at edwardsp@newpaltz. edu orcall x2879, or visit www.newpaltz.edu/elementaryed/literacy.html.

NOVEMBER 21, 2005
Volume 3, Issue 23

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